Koozies from Paracord and Nylon Cord

I've been meaning to post this for a while, but just never got around to it. In the past I have tried many different possible ways to tie a koozie that will not only cover most of the bottle and fit it correctly, but I also want it to be durable and not smash in on itself. The gaucho interweave on a basic Turks Head Knot fits this bill perfectly. I've tied them out of paracord, as well as solid braided nylon, and both work. I have included some pictures on the final product as well as a couple of in progress.

Yeti Cup Cover

I have some gutted maroon and white paracord that I wanted to utilize. Gig Em Aggies! The base knot is 13Lx10B THK, then added a pineapple interweave of maroon, then added another pineapple interweave of white. This makes it a three pass (over 3, under 3). It fits perfectly around the cup, and is pretty snug.

Horn Knots Revisited

After making simple horn knots for a while, I decided to step it up finally and make horn knots using a turk's head knot technique. I have some old horn knots that my grandpa made, so I just duplicated them. The cord is 3/16" Solid braided nylon. The THK is a 7x8 with a goucho interweave or also known as a 13x15 goucho knot.

These things are hard as a rock and do not move/stretch at all. Very good quality, and as long as it isn't cut or burned by flame. it will never wear out.

Turk's Head Knot Tool

Well I've been gathering the materials and trying to find the time for weeks now, and it has finally come to fruition. I got this idea from knottool.com. I found this website and quickly realized I wanted a lot of them and they are a little expensive, so instead I decided to make them myself. This first one that I'm posting is an 8 bight tool. The PCV pipe is 1-1/2" in diameter. The set screws are 6-32 x 1/2" and they have a recessed allen wrench head. I plan on making tubes like this one out of 2" & 3" pipe pretty soon.

Overall I am very happy with it. The only thing I would change is that with an even bight THK, the pins need to be staggered from the top & bottom, instead of lining up straight. Anyways I hope you enjoy!

The example knot I tied is a 9x8 casa.

Getting Ready To Work

I snapped this picture before I started working on some horn knots the other night. I thought it was a neat picture and figured I would share.

Tin Box Case No. 2

I had some other spare paracord and an old tobacco tin so I decided to tie another case. The OD paracord is poly instead of nylon, but the tan is nylon. For the spine or edge of the case I used a double cobra weave. I put in a couple of extra lengths of cord through the middle of the double cobra weave to make it wider to comfortably fit the tin box. Then I used the extra cord from the edging to weave the sides. The last thing I did was tie a single strand star knot to act as a button for closure. This design was mostly inspire by this project by Stormdrane.

Tin Box Pouch

I have made a case like this once before for my leatherman. I had some left over cord so I decided to make a case for an Altoids tin box. The outside edge is a double Solomon Bar. Then I just used the extra cord from the Solomon bars to make the weaves back and forth for the sides. The button on the side is a single strand star knot. I probably made it too tight because its sort of a pain to get in and out, but it'll work itself a little more loose over time. Reference: Stormdrane

Nylon Horn Knots

I've been away from tying for a while, so therefore I needed to replenish my inventory with some horn knots. I tied these from Solid Braided Nylon 3/16". I tied 4 small horn knots and 1 big horn knot. The first picture shows the smaller horn knots before they are tightened and ends trimmed. Second picture shows the final result of the small horn knots. And the last picture shows the big horn knot, which is not tightened. This is because the final result is tied around a saddle horn instead of a hollow core.

Workshop

This weekend I finally got my garage cleaned up and organized. I'm pretty slow right now on projects, so here is a picture of my workshop. The vice is mounted to the table and its what I used for most of my braiding and plaiting. The black tool box sitting on the table houses all of my cord, tools, and accessories. Also pictured is all of the books I use when working on new projects.

A Look at the Current Inventory

I've been continuously making new halters, pigging strings, and horn knots. So, I decided to take a picture of all the current products I've put out over the past couple weeks. Everything is made of paracord except for the white halter in the front. It is made from solid braid nylon rope. It's a lot stronger, and I wanted to see if it would be more popular. The last picture is a close up of the flat braid that makes the nose band of the white halter.

A Few Keychains

This weekend I had some leftover line to work with, and some of my brother's friends wanted some new keychains. They were all done the exact same. Four strand round braid, ending with a 4 Strand Matthew Walker Knot. Not much to it, pretty simple.